"I like small penises," said no women interviewed for an actually scientific study released Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS. Yes, PNAS is a funny sounding acronym, and, yes, PNAS has found that size does matter ? and that women prefer "showers" to "growers."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/botched-simcity-launch-vaults-ea-second-consecutive-award-194255890.html
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Many months have gone by since we first heard about Ad Hoc Labs' Burner application, which brought a new kind of disposable digits service to folks with an iPhone. Well, starting today, those with an Android handset can also snag throw-away phone numbers via the newfangled app on Google's flavorful platform. Naturally, Burner for Android will perform in a similar fashion to its iOS counterpart, allowing users to seamlessly choose from an array of different plans that'll determine how many minutes / texts any given number is good for -- don't worry, we're sure you'll come across one that's perfectly suited for your business.
Customers on Apple's side, meanwhile, can expect to experience some improvements within the app thanks to a recent update. Burner says its iOS offering has been enhanced in a number of ways, including "smarter" notifications as well as the ability to keep easier track of conversations by way of favoriting and archiving. And although this particular sector may be looked upon with uncertainty, Ad Hoc Labs CEO, Greg Cohen, says his team is just happy to be able to provide "an important tool for users to protect themselves by adding an extra layer of anonymity to their phones." Craigslist, anyone?
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Source: Google Play, App Store
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/hLExWxzKctM/
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Dolph Ziggler cashes in his Money in the Bank contract to become World Heavyweight Champion: Raw, April 8, 2013AJ Lee is thrilled following Dolph Ziggler's World Heavyweight Championship victory: WWE.com Exclusive, April 9, 2013The WWE Universe continues to hum Fandango's entrance music after Raw goes off the air: Raw, April 8, 2013A special look at the WWE Universe at its rowdiest on Raw: Raw, April 8, 2013John Cena vs. Mark Henry: Raw, April 8, 2013Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls vs. Team Rhodes Scholars & The Bella Twins: Raw, April 8, 2013Brad Maddox gets emotional: WWE App Exclusive, April 8, 2013 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ??The night after WrestleMania 29 may go down in history as one of the most exciting ones in WWE history. It may also be remembered as the most fun, thanks to the sold-out crowd, who gave every last drop of energy they had, chanting in and outside the arena for everyone from the commentators to Fandango. For three straight hours, they chanted loudly and proudly, leaving those not in attendance wishing they could take part.
More than 1 million members of the WWE Universe have passed through the turnstiles at the IZOD Center since 1984, all extremely passionate about the Superstars and the action that plays out in the squared circle. There may not have been a more passionate audience than the capacity crowd of 16,173 people that squeezed into the arena 24 hours removed from WrestleMania 29, though.
From the second Raw?went on the air, it was clear that the WWE Universe was up for one thing: pure, unadulterated fun. Three hours later, many were asking if episode No. 1,037 of Raw was the best in the show?s 20-year history.
VOTE: What was Monday night?s best crowd chant??|?Watch the crowd at its rowdiest
Wade Barrett?was a surprising fan favorite during the post-WrestleMania Raw. The crowd roared in approval as the Brit cold-cocked The Miz with the Bull Hammer elbow to regain the Intercontinental Title. WWE.com caught up with the new champion to get his reactions to the great crowd. Barrett gave credit to the international flair of a post-WrestleMania crowd, with fans from all over the world taking part in Raw.
During World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio?s Handicap Match against Jack Swagger & Zeb Colter, Zack Ryder noticed the WWE Universe was clamoring for one thing ??a Money in the Bank cash-in from Dolph Ziggler.
?You heard ?We Want Ziggler!? that whole match,? Zack Ryder said. ?They got him.?
The roof nearly blew off the IZOD Center when The Showoff stalked to the ring purposefully and shoved his Money in the Bank briefcase into referee Scott Armstrong?s chest, signaling that he was taking his opportunity at Del Rio?s World Heavyweight Championship. When Armstrong?s arm hit the mat for the third time and the bell rang, proclaiming Ziggler the new World Heavyweight Champion, the roar was deafening. It was a true star-making moment for WWE?s newest champion.
View CommentsSource: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-04-08/izod-center-fan-chants
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By Tim Molloy
NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Michael J. Fox jokes in a recent interview that his long career has taken him to demographic extremes.
"I went from Teen Beat and Tiger Beat... to AARP," he said to Access Hollywood. "There's some great tips about colon health!"
The "Family Ties" and film star is preparing to return to NBC with a new sitcom next season that draws from his own family life and battle with Parkinson's disease. He plays a news anchor who's life, like the actor's, has been disrupted by Parkinson's.
Fox, 51, said he didn't question whether to address his real-life struggle onscreen.
"Well, I don't have a choice," he said. "You can sit and project out and say, 'Oh, I'm going to have this and it's going to be like this and I won't be able to do that.' But it's much more about right now. 'What can I do right now?' Right?"
He added: "I just thought, I love to do this and as much as anyone will let me do it and give me their time to do it - I should do it. And so, I'm doing it."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/michael-j-fox-tiger-beat-aarp-195606333.html
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DES MOINES, Iowa ? It was a day Iowa Republicans had long dreamed of when their Democratic nemesis, Tom Harkin, announced he was retiring from the Senate. But that day was in January, and as the Midwest winter now gives way to spring, Republicans here find themselves in a surprising predicament - still trying to come up with someone to run for the job, and struggling to avoid becoming another example of the party's disarray after its presidential defeat.
Ever since Harkin, who had held the office since Ronald Reagan was president, provided an opening for the GOP, the party has bounced between two options for the Senate seat:candidates who could win but won't run, and candidates who could run but, party officials fear, couldn't win.
Meanwhile, the state party apparatus has become a reflection of the GOP's bitterly divided factions. Now led by followers of libertarian Ron Paul, the organization has quarreled with Iowa's senior Republican eminence, Gov. Terry Branstad, and disputed his strategy for state government and party affairs.
"The Republican Party in Iowa is in turmoil, with no clear leader for the future and no consistent governing philosophy," said Doug Gross, a Republican fundraiser and Branstad confidant.
As Democrats line up behind their already-declared candidate for the Senate, Bruce Braley, Republican leaders are hoping they can sort things out before the 2014 campaign heats up and before the 2016 presidential race puts Iowa and its first-in-the-nation caucuses back in the political spotlight. The state party is still trying to get over its experience last year, in which balloting problems at the presidential caucuses left GOP officials unable to declare a winner. National GOP officials plan to discuss the 2016 nominating process, and Iowa's place in it, at a meeting in California this week.
Overall, the Republican Party needs to pick up six seats to win control of the Senate in 2014, and Harkin's would seem to be one of its better chances. A Republican, Charles Grassley, holds the other Senate seat and the party controls the governorship and one house of the Legislature.
But any campaign plan quickly went awry when Branstad's first choice for the race, Rep. Tom Latham, a respected 10-term House member, declined to run.
Meanwhile, Branstad was trying to hold off another Iowa congressman, Steve King, a conservative firebrand who had long eyed the Senate but whom some considered too divisive for a party trying to broaden its appeal. Branstad's delicate diplomacy was upended when a national conservative group publicly called out King as just the kind of lightning rod the GOP should avoid.
But while the barb put King on the defensive, he does not give the impression of a candidate hot to run.
"There can be no scores to settle," King told The Associated Press, saying he was studying poll research. "Of all the opinions out there, I want to make sure there's empirical data."
The search may now turn to Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a working mother and energetic former county officeholder who is popular with social and pro-business conservatives. She has the public blessing of Branstad, but remains untested outside his shadow. Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, a well-liked but lower-profile potential fourth option, is waiting to see what Reynolds decides.
"I am surprised we don't have a stronger candidate that's stepped out yet," said Gwen Ecklund, a GOP county chairwoman from western Iowa.
By contrast, the declared Democrat in the race, Braley, a congressman from Waterloo, has been able head off potential Democratic primary challengers and raised $1 million in less than two months.
Adding to the GOP tumult has been the growing power of Ron Paul supporters, who were a nonfactor in the state before Paul placed third in the 2012 Iowa caucuses, higher than many thought possible. Paul's 2012 Iowa caucus campaign chairman A.J. Spiker won election as party chairman last year, and Paul supporters now occupy senior offices on the state GOP committee.
Spiker has attacked a gasoline tax proposal that Branstad was considering supporting and has been crosswise with Branstad's efforts to put the volatile gay marriage issue on the backburner.
Some Republican officials are concerned about attracting any more negative attention to Iowa or prompting any more suggestions that another state should start the presidential nominating calendar ? after the Republican National Committee made an issue of Iowa's botched caucus balloting last year. State GOP officials first declared Mitt Romney had narrowly won, then announced 16 days later that former Sen. Rick Santorum had received more votes ? long after the news could have helped boost his campaign for subsequent early primaries.
An RNC report expressed a strong preference for states using regular elections, rather than caucuses or conventions, for picking nominees.
"I'm concerned because the report calls for doing away with caucuses," said Steve Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member from Iowa.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/iowa-republicans-senate_n_3039221.html
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President Barack Obama speaks during the ?In Performance at the White House? in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, a program for a celebration of Memphis Soul Music. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama speaks during the ?In Performance at the White House? in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, a program for a celebration of Memphis Soul Music. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
First lady Michelle Obama waves to students as she introduces the panel of a workshop, ?Soulsville, USA: The History of Memphis Soul,? Tuesday, April 9, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. Mrs. Obama hosted an event for students before tonight's ?In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul?. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Singers Justin Timberlake, left, and Charlie Musselwhite, listen as first lady Michelle Obama introduces the panel for the workshop, ?Soulsville, USA: The History of Memphis Soul,? Tuesday, April 9, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. The workshop for students was before tonight's ?In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul?. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Singer and actor Justin Timberlake tells a story during a workshop, ?Soulsville, USA: The History of Memphis Soul,? Tuesday, April 9, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. First lady Michelle Obama hosted the event for student before tonight's ?In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul?. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Singers, from left, Sam Moore, Mavis Staples, and Justin Timberlake, joke together during a workshop, ?Soulsville, USA: The History of Memphis Soul,? Tiesday, April 9, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. First lady Michelle Obama hosted a daytime event for students before tonight's ?In Performance at the White House". (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama said he'd been looking forward to a White House celebration of Memphis soul music for one reason.
"Let's face it, who does not love this music?" he asked Tuesday, opening the night's concert in an East Room bathed in amber light and transformed by the addition of a stage and backup musicians.
"These songs get us on the dance floor," Obama said. "They get stuck in our heads. We go back over them again and again. And they've played an important part in our history."
Memphis, Tenn., was segregated in the 1960s, but blacks and whites came together despite the institutional racism to create a soulful blend of gospel and rhythmic blues music that sought to "bridge those divides, to create a little harmony with harmony," Obama said.
He noted that two of the night's guests, Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper, helped form one of the city's first integrated bands.
"They weren't allowed to go to school together. They weren't always allowed to travel or eat together," the president said. "But no one could stop them from playing music together."
"And that was the spirit of their music ? the sound of Soulsville, U.S.A., a music that, at its core, is about the pain of being alone, the power of human connection, and the importance of treating each other right," Obama said. "After all, this is the music that asked us to try a little tenderness. It's the music that put Mr. Big Stuff in his place. And it's the music that challenged us to accept new ways of thinking with four timeless words: 'Can you dig it?'"
And with that, Obama took his seat and the show opened with Sam Moore, half of the duo Sam & Dave, and "American Idol" finalist and gospel singer Joshua Ledet belting out Moore's "Soul Man," followed minutes later by Justin Timberlake and Cropper's rendition of Otis Redding's (Sittin' on) "The Dock of the Bay."
Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, sat in the front row. The president and first lady at times clapped their hands and bobbed and weaved their heads to the pulsating rhythms.
The concert was the 10th in the "In Performance at the White House" series since Obama took office. Other performers included Alabama Shakes, Ben Harper, Cyndi Lauper, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples , Queen Latifah and William Bell. Latifah also was the host and Jones led the band.
Earlier in the day, Bell said the concert reaffirmed years of hard work that began in the 1960s when Stax Records was created in Memphis, and the label cranked out one soul and R&B hit after another for more than a decade.
Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Bell and Sam & Dave were among the company's artists.
"As kids coming up, we didn't think it would last this long," the 73-year-old Bell said during a rehearsal break. He later performed his hit, "You Don't Miss Your Water."
Al Green had been scheduled to perform but, about an hour before the show, the White House released a statement from the singer's spokesman who said Green had suffered a back injury and would be unable to attend.
Hours before the show, Michelle Obama kicked off a workshop featuring Moore, Staples, Timberlake, Musselwhite and Harper for students from 16 schools and organizations in Virginia, California, Memphis, New York City, Maryland, Florida and Washington, D.C., who got to question the artists.
She noted Memphis' history as the birthplace of Elvis Presley's rock and roll and B.B. King's blues.
"And while you can hear both of those influences in Memphis soul, this music has a style and a story uniquely its own," Mrs. Obama said, before launching into the story of Stax Records.
She noted that the label also represented "somebody my husband thinks he sounds like" ? Green. "Let's just tell him he does, OK? Since he is the president, we like to boost him up a little bit."
It was a reference to Obama singing a few bars of Green's "Let's Stay Together" during a Democratic fundraiser at New York's Apollo Theater in February 2012.
Obama also joked about his singing during his brief remarks opening the concert.
"Tonight, I am speaking not just as a president, but as one of America's best-known Al Green impersonators," he said to laughter.
At the workshop, Mrs. Obama also tried to encourage the students, including some aspiring musicians, by noting that it took years of perfecting their talent for the artists perched on stools in front of them to get where they are.
She recalled playing the piano as a young girl and said she regretted not sticking with it. But she said the skills one learns by studying music are useful in other areas of life.
"The discipline, the patience, the diligence I learned through the study of music, those are all skills that I apply every single day in my life," Mrs. Obama said. "I applied them as a student, as a lawyer, as a first lady, and definitely as a mother."
Since February 2009, "In Performance at the White House" has highlighted the music of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, plus Hispanic music, music from the civil-rights era, Motown and the blues, Broadway and country music. The series itself dates to 1978.
The Memphis soul concert is set to air next Tuesday on PBS stations. It will also be broadcast at a later date over the American Forces Network for service members and civilians at Defense Department locations worldwide.
___
Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
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LONDON, United Kingdom ? Late last February in Istanbul?s upscale Etiler neighbourhood, an attractive crowd of men in slim-cut suits and their stylish companions gathered for the official opening party of the city?s first GQ Bar. That?s GQ as in Gentlemen?s Quarterly, the successful men?s style magazine with nearly 20 international editions. But at the event, the only identifiable sign of the publication was the name. Spread over two floors and featuring a gigantic retractable crystal chandelier suspended over its centre, the sparkling venue is a dining spot for the city?s moneyed, style-hungry elite. After midnight, the chandelier is retracted, as if by magic, and the space turns into a throbbing dance club.
Come June, a Vogue Club is set to open on the 45th and 46th floors of a Singapore skyscraper, comprising a restaurant and a lounge area that will feature live music and stay open late into the night, distilling the glamour of the famous fashion bible into an immersive environment for eating, drinking and socialising.
And that?s just the start.?Following the success of an existing Vogue Caf? and GQ Bar in Moscow, over the next 12 months, GQ- and Vogue-themed bars, cafes and clubs will open in Singapore, Dubai and Bangkok. Similar ventures are planned in Latin America.
Meanwhile, in London, 45 students are getting ready to commence classes, next week, at the Cond? Nast College of Fashion and Design, the publisher?s first foray into the business of education.
With these moves, Cond? Nast International, the publisher of the non-American editions of Vogue, Wired, Vanity Fair and GQ, among other titles, is extending its most famous magazine brands ? powerful lifestyle signifiers ? into a number of new, non-publishing businesses.
?Our business can no longer be defined strictly as publishing, but takes the form of brand management,? Jonathan Newhouse, chairman and chief executive of Cond? Nast International told BoF. ?We want to bring the experience of the publishing brands to end users in new forms in order to strengthen the brands and their relevance. Of course, we aim to do so profitably.?
It?s no secret that traditional, ad-supported editorial outlets have been trying to diversify their revenue streams since the Great Recession caused dramatic slashing of advertising spending. In May of 2011, Cond? Nast (US) chief executive Chuck Townshend acknowledged to The Wall Street Journal: ?My eyes are wide open. I don?t consider [the traditional ad-revenue model] to be a perennially sustainable stream of revenue.?
While Cond? Nast International was not as severely affected by the downturn as the company?s US business, according to Newhouse, the international arm did experience a drop in revenue in 2009. In some regions ad revenues fell by as much as 20 per cent between 2008 and 2009, a loss compounded by the continued shift away from print products ? where Cond? Nast still makes the majority its revenues ? towards the Internet, where large volumes of media content are freely available to consumers.
Starting in 2010, advertising revenues began to recover. And, for 2011, despite wider trouble in the Eurozone, revenues at Cond? Nast International rose 7.7 percent to ?460 million, thanks to the steady return of luxury advertisers and the company?s ability to offset some of its losses through the growth of its online properties. But the fallout from the financial crisis clearly catalysed the company to focus on new revenue opportunities through brand extensions, a move that was met with a fair degree of skepticism from some industry observers.
Moscow has been something of a testing ground for Cond? Nast?s hospitality ventures. A Vogue Caf? opened there back in 2004 and, following its success, the company opened two more establishments tied to its famous brands in the Russian capital, all of them run in partnership with local restaurant management companies through franchise deals.
?For several years now Cond? Nast International has licensed a GQ Bar and Vogue Caf? in Moscow catering to glamorous, high-spending clientele,? Stuart Nielsen, director of Cond? Nast International Restaurants, told BoF. ?More recently a Tatler Club was opened, also in Moscow. The successful operations in Russia led to the consideration of opening further restaurants and bars under license partnerships around the world.?
Cond? Nast?s first hospitality venture in the Middle East, a Vogue Caf?, is set to open ?at a high-end shopping mall in Dubai this month, followed by a GQ Bar at a luxury hotel in the same city later in the year.
As for the Cond? Nast College, the two main courses offered by the fledgling institution, a year-long foundation course and a 10-week ?certificate? track, are strategically named after the company?s most influential brand, Vogue, and will cost each student ?19,560 and ?6,600 in tuition fees, respectively.
?Both Vogue courses are intended to provide a strong foundation course for anyone wishing to enter the fashion industry, whether their calling is styling, buying, merchandising, digital marketing, finance, PR and social media, journalism or working for a large luxury brand,? Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Cond? Nast Britain and president of Cond? Nast International, explained. ?The curriculum has been put together by professional education experts, and the main point of difference between us and other players in the field is that the Cond? Nast College of Fashion & Design has a much fuller and more intense curriculum with up to sixteen hours of contact time (comprised of teaching and tutorials) per week. Four to five hours is the industry norm,? he added.
But while the school is accredited by the British Accreditation Council, for now, it will not confer official degrees and it remains to be seen if the Vogue name will carry any clout with prospective employers. Still, there does appear to be demand for such courses. Coleridge reported that the new academy received 200 applications from 40 countries for the 45 spots in its first certificate course, which begins next week.
But how are all these brand the extensions performing?
According to Newhouse, the new businesses are either already profitable or expected to be profitable in the near future. ?Otherwise we would not pursue them,? he said, adding that non-core businesses, meaning neither print nor online publications, generated $18 million for Cond? Nast International in 2010 and is set to drive $75 million in revenues this year, contributing approximately 10 percent of the company?s total revenues.
?These businesses are already having a significant impact,? continued Newhouse. ?For instance, the restaurant business which began in earnest two years ago, outperforms many countries where we publish magazines.
Interestingly, the company is limiting its hospitality ventures to new and emerging markets.
?There are no plans to extend operations to the US or Europe at this stage,? Nielsen told BoF, suggesting that these ventures have some risk of brand dilution, especially in markets where the brands are already well known. ?We?re currently targeting the Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American markets where there is a strong appetite for luxury brands in retail and hospitality,? he added.
According to brand strategy expert David Aaker, Disney offers an exemplary case of a company that has successsfully transferred its brand into new products, services and experiences without weakening its image. In fact, Aaker says, brand extensions can be a winning strategic option so long as certain pre-conditions are met. Critically, the extensions must enhance the core brand?s image, rather than dilute it.
Cond? Nast International?s inroads into hospitality and education could well turn out to be a smart (and necessary) strategic move, provided adequate measures are taken to ensure that these ventures do not undermine the positive perception of the brands involved. But the moment a caf?-goer in Istanbul thinks of Vogue and GQ as food and drink establishments first, and glossy magazines that conjure up worlds of glamour, second, the brand extensions may become more of a liability than an asset.
Source: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/04/drinks-at-gq.html
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GAUHATI, India (AP) ? Wildlife authorities are using aerial drones to oversee a sprawling natural game park in northeastern India to protect the one-horned rhinoceros from armed poachers.
Security officers conducted flights of the unmanned aircraft over the Kaziranga National Park on Monday and will fly drones at regular intervals to prevent rampant poaching in the park in the remote Indian state of Assam.
The drones are equipped with cameras and will be monitored by security guards, who find it difficult to guard the whole 480-square kilometer (185-square mile) reserve.
"Regular operations of the unmanned aerial vehicles will begin once we get the nod of the Indian defense ministry," said Rokybul Hussain, the state's forest and environment minister.
The drones will also be useful during the annual monsoon season when large areas in the Kaziranga reserve are flooded by the mighty Brahmaputra River and three other rivers that flow through the game park, park officials said.
Hussain said the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's equivalent of the FBI, will soon begin investigations into the steep rise in rhino poaching this year.
Poachers armed with automatic rifles killed 22 rhinos last year, but have killed 16 rhinos already this year.
Rhino horn is in great demand in China and Southeast Asia where it is believed to have medicinal properties.
A rhino census conducted in Kaziranga reserve two weeks ago put their number at 2,329, up from 2,290 in 2012.
In recent weeks, wildlife authorities in Assam have deployed 300 armed guards to protect the rhinos in Kaziranga but they have been no match for organized gangs of poachers who have been managing to strike at the rhinos with increasing regularity.
"What worries us is the use of automatic weapons like Kalashnikovs by the poachers," said Assam police chief Jayanta Narayan Choudhury.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-drones-protect-rhinos-poachers-033350543.html
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President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are working hard to repair relations between Turkey and Israel. They deserve credit for their efforts. But much has changed for both countries since they cooperated in the 1990s, and progress toward rapprochement will likely be slow.
Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul April 7. Mr. Kerry said it was not up to Washington to set a deadline for Turkey and Israel to normalise ties but stressed the importance of restoring a full relationship between the two. Op-ed contributor F. Stephen Larrabee says the 'to-do list for renewed cooperation is long.'
Kayhan Ozer/Turkish Prime Minister's Press Office/Reuters
EnlargeGood news from the Middle East is worth savoring these days, so President Obama is entitled to take a bow for helping ease the long strain in relations between Israel and Turkey. Furthering that progress was high on Secretary of State John Kerry?s agenda, as he visited Turkey on Sunday and then flew on to Israel.
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But let?s not get carried away.?The to-do list for renewed cooperation is long: Syria, the Middle East peace process, and the general uncertainty created by the Arab Spring. Much separates these two countries that once shared a strategic closeness so needed in this troubled region.
Certainly Mr. Obama recognizes the need for rapprochement. As he was leaving Israel late last month, he helped broker an apology from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the death of nine Turkish citizens killed in an Israeli commando raid on a Turkish ship bound for the Gaza Strip in May 2010.
Such an apology had long eluded other mediators, and Obama?s efforts helped halt the damaging deterioration of relations between two of America?s most important allies in the Middle East. But Israel?s apology is unlikely to spur a return to the type of warm defense and intelligence cooperation that marked the two countries' relations in the late 1990s.
The close Turkish-Israeli defense relationship of that time was the product of a specific strategic context ? and the geopolitical circumstances that drove Turkish-Israeli cooperation have changed significantly since then.
In the 1990s, Turkey was driven closer to Israel out of regional necessity. Turkey?s relations with the Arab world were frayed, and Turkey needed Israel as a bulwark against Syria, which had one of the largest and best equipped armed forces in the Middle East.
Today Ankara?s strategic situation is radically different. Turkey?s relations with the Arab world have significantly improved. Mr. Erdogan?s own brand of moderate political Islam and willingness to talk tough on behalf of the people of Gaza have made him one of the most popular leaders in the Middle East. Many Arabs see the Turkish political-economic system as a potential model for their own countries. Thus Turkey needs Israel less than it did a decade ago.
Moreover, those warm 1990s defense ties between Israel and Turkey stemmed from a domestic political context in Ankara that has changed dramatically. The main proponent of the close defense and intelligence ties with Israel was the Turkish military. Back then, the generals had the dominant say on Turkish foreign policy. Today, the military?s influence over Turkey?s role in the world has palpably declined. Over the past decade Erdogan has systematically strengthened civilian control over the military. Today, the elected prime minister, not the unelected military, determines policy toward Israel.
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TORONTO (AP) ? The maker of the BlackBerry phone said Tuesday that a modern smartphone with a physical keyboard will be available in Canada in the coming weeks as major wireless companies started taking advance orders.
Details on when the BlackBerry Q10 will go on sale elsewhere will be announced soon, Research In Motion Ltd. said. Advance orders are already being accepted in the U.K.
The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. RIM faced numerous delays modernizing its operating system with the BlackBerry 10. During that time, it had to cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $70 billion.
RIM surprised Wall Street last month by returning to profitability and shipping about 1 million touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 phones in the most recent quarter, which ended March 2. It will take several quarters, though, to know whether RIM is on a path toward a successful turnaround. RIM had just entered the critical U.S. market with the Z10 phone, and the more anticipated Q10 keyboard phone won't be on sale until late May or June because of testing by U.S. wireless companies.
The U.S. delay in selling the new keyboard BlackBerry complicates RIM's efforts to hang on to customers tempted by Apple's iPhone and a range of devices running Google Inc.'s Android operating system. Even as the BlackBerry has fallen behind rivals in recent years, many BlackBerry users have stayed loyal because they prefer a physical keyboard over the touch screen found on the iPhone and most Android devices. The temptations to switch grow with each additional delay, despite favorable reviews for BlackBerry 10 operating system.
Canadian carriers Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. both said Tuesday that advance orders are under way for the keyboard Q10 device, but neither would provide an exact date for when the Q10 would be available. Telus is offering the phone one a $199 with a three-year service agreement or $700 without a contract.
The all-touch-screen Z10 launched in Canada and other markets earlier this year and in the United States last month.
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Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
Share ] Contact: Bobbie Mixon
bmixon@nsf.gov
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National Science Foundation
Geckos are known for their sticky adhesive toes that allow them to stick to, climb on, and run along surfaces in any orientation--even upside down! But until recently, it was not well understood how geckos kept their sticking ability even on wet surfaces, as are common in the tropical regions in which most geckos live. A 2012 study in which geckos slipped on wet glass perplexed scientists trying to unlock the key to gecko adhesion in climates with plentiful rain and moisture.
A study supported by the National Science Foundation and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week solves the mystery, showing that wet, water-repellant surfaces, like those of leaves and tree trunks, actually secure a gecko's grip in a manner similar to dry surfaces.
Researchers from the University of Akron, led by integrated bioscience doctoral candidate Alyssa Stark, tested geckos on four different surfaces. The surfaces ranged from hydrophilic--those that liquids spread across when wet, like glass--to hydrophobic--water-repellent surfaces on which liquids bead, like the natural leaves geckos walk on--and intermediate ones, like acrylic sheets. Geckos were tested on these surfaces both when the surfaces were dry and when they were submerged underwater, and water completely covered the gecko's feet.
Fitting a small harness around the pelvis, geckos were gently pulled along the substrate until their feet began to slip. At this point the maximum force with which a gecko could stick was measured. On wet glass geckos slipped and could not maintain adhesion. However when tested on more hydrophobic surfaces, geckos stuck just as well to the wet surface as they did to the dry ones. When tested, geckos stuck even better to wet Teflon than dry.
To understand these findings, researchers developed a model that explains the results from the gecko study and may also help inform future bio-inspired gecko-like adhesives that can maintain adhesion underwater.
###
For more details, see: Geckos keep firm grip in wet natural habitat.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 9-Apr-2013 Share ] Contact: Bobbie Mixon
bmixon@nsf.gov
703-292-8070
National Science Foundation
Geckos are known for their sticky adhesive toes that allow them to stick to, climb on, and run along surfaces in any orientation--even upside down! But until recently, it was not well understood how geckos kept their sticking ability even on wet surfaces, as are common in the tropical regions in which most geckos live. A 2012 study in which geckos slipped on wet glass perplexed scientists trying to unlock the key to gecko adhesion in climates with plentiful rain and moisture.
A study supported by the National Science Foundation and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week solves the mystery, showing that wet, water-repellant surfaces, like those of leaves and tree trunks, actually secure a gecko's grip in a manner similar to dry surfaces.
Researchers from the University of Akron, led by integrated bioscience doctoral candidate Alyssa Stark, tested geckos on four different surfaces. The surfaces ranged from hydrophilic--those that liquids spread across when wet, like glass--to hydrophobic--water-repellent surfaces on which liquids bead, like the natural leaves geckos walk on--and intermediate ones, like acrylic sheets. Geckos were tested on these surfaces both when the surfaces were dry and when they were submerged underwater, and water completely covered the gecko's feet.
Fitting a small harness around the pelvis, geckos were gently pulled along the substrate until their feet began to slip. At this point the maximum force with which a gecko could stick was measured. On wet glass geckos slipped and could not maintain adhesion. However when tested on more hydrophobic surfaces, geckos stuck just as well to the wet surface as they did to the dry ones. When tested, geckos stuck even better to wet Teflon than dry.
To understand these findings, researchers developed a model that explains the results from the gecko study and may also help inform future bio-inspired gecko-like adhesives that can maintain adhesion underwater.
###
For more details, see: Geckos keep firm grip in wet natural habitat.
-NSF-
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/nsf-nsw040913.php
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Educational publisher Elsevier is diving deeper into the world of open and social educational data: it has bought Mendeley, the London/New York-based provider of a platform for academics and organizations to share research and collaborate with others via a social network. The terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed but we understand it is for a sum between $69 million and $100 million. We first broke the news of this deal when it was still being negotiated, in January.
The acquisition will heat up competition between Elsevier and other large publishers moving into ed-tech, among them Thomson Reuters, which owns EndNote, a competitor to Mendeley.
Mendeley is both a technology/platform acquisition as well as an acqui-hire for Elsevier. CEO Victor Henning, one of the three PhD co-founders of Mendeley, tells us in an interview that all of Mendeley?s 50 staff are coming over to Elsevier, and Henning will become VP of strategy for the company ? a sign that Elsevier may be gearing up for more activity and possibly acquisitions in this space. (Picture of that Mendeley team taken earlier is below, complete with kitschy hologram.)
Olivier Dumon, MD of academic and government research markets at Elsevier, says that the company does not plan to merge Mendeley with existing Elsevier products that once used to compete against it, such as Scopus, ?but we will integrate it better.?
Elsevier notes that in some regards it?s been working with Mendeley since 2009. ?Elsevier has referred users to Mendeley, invited Mendeley to build apps on ScienceDirect using its open APIs, and sponsored Mendeley?s Science Online London conferences on Open Science,? the company said in a statement on the acquisition.
Mendeley ? which was founded in 2008 and has raised just under $12 million in funding?from investors including?Access Industries,?Passion Capital, and?Tom Glocer???will keep running both its main platform as well as its Institutional Edition, aimed at helping universities and other large organizations track research and what?s being read in real time. Mendeley currently has 2.3 million users on its platform (up from 2.1 million in January), as well as 24 ?high profile? institutions across North America, Europe and Asia. The plan is to expand the amount of free services offered across those, such as doubling the amount of storage for individuals to 2 gigabytes.
It will also keep its API free and open to use: that API today is used by some 300 apps, up from 260 in January.
Henning says Mendeley will continue to source data from different places ? not just focus on what?s published or owned by Elsevier. ?If people want to source the latest research on neurobiology, it wouldn?t make sense to limit this,? said Henning. ?Elsevier will help us by enriching our content, but when it comes to other publishers it will also increase the transit routes into them.?
The acquisition also will mean that Mendeley can shift gears a bit. In the past, it charged users for extras like more storage space, usage packages for larger teams and so on, services that helped the company triple its revenues in the past year. Henning says that if it had remained independent there would have been more of a pressure to push revenue generation even more. ?But I think with Elsevier we can take a longer term perspective,? he says. ?What do our users want, rather than having to monetize too early. The focus will be to growing our user base rather than trying to monetize right away.?
As part of that, Mendeley also now wants to focus resources on some projects that it has been wanting to tackle for some time. The company already has a strong use on iOS devices; now it will be looking to launch an Android app later this year.
When we first broke the news that the two companies were in acquisition talks, I noticed a lot of negative chatter in the comments of the story and elsewhere, with many concerned that the product would become too proprietary or commercial as a result. Henning is insistent that this won?t happen here. ?If you look at any acquisition, whether its Mailbox getting bought by Dropbox or us, people are always anxious about what will happen to a service,? he says. ?In our case it will accelerate our vision.?
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier???s 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as External link ScienceDirect, External link MD Consult, External link Scopus, bibliographic databases, and online reference works. External link Elsevier is a...
? Learn moreMendeley helps to manage and share academic knowledge: Mendeley Desktop is free academic software (Windows, Mac, Linux) for managing and sharing research papers. Mendeley Web is a free research network which lets you manage research papers online, discover research trends and connect to like-minded academics. Mendeley has won Plugg.eu?s ?European Start-up of the Year? Award 2009 and TechCrunch Europas ?Best Social Innovation Which Benefits Society? Award 2009. The company?s investors and advisors include former founders and executives of Skype,...
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. airlines scored their second best performance last year in the more than two decades that researchers have been measuring airline quality, with Virgin America the leader, says an annual report released Monday.
The report ranked the 14 largest U.S. airlines based on on-time arrivals, mishandled bags, consumer complaints and passengers who were bought tickets but were turned away because flights were over booked.
Airline performance in 2012 was the second highest in the 23 years that Wichita State University at Omaha in Nebraska and Purdue University in Indiana have tracked the performance of airlines. The airline's best year was 2011.
Virgin America, headquartered in Burlingame, Calif., did the best job on baggage handling and had the second-lowest rate of passengers denied seats due to overbookings. United Airlines, whose consumer complaint rate nearly doubled last year, had the worst performance. United has merged with Continental Airlines, but has had rough spots in integrating the operations of the two carriers.
The number of complaints consumers filed with the Department of Transportation overall surged by one-fifth last year to 11,445 complaints, up from 9,414 in 2011.
"Over the 20 some year history we've looked at it, this is still the best time of airline performance we've ever seen," said Dean Headley, a business professor at Wichita State University in Kansas, who has co-written the annual report. The best year was 2011, which was only slightly better than last year, he said.
Despite those improvements, it's not surprising that passengers are getting grumpier, Headley said. Carriers keep shrinking the size of seats in order to stuff more people into planes. Empty middle seats that might provide a little more room have vanished. And more people who have bought tickets are being turned away because flights are overbooked.
"The way airlines have taken 130-seat airplanes and expanded them to 150 seats to squeeze out more revenue, I think, is finally catching up with them," he said. "People are saying, 'Look, I don't fit here. Do something about this.' At some point airlines can't keep shrinking seats to put more people into the same tube," he said.
The industry is even looking at ways to make today's smaller-than-a-broom closet toilets more compact in the hope of squeezing a few more seats onto planes.
"I can't imagine the uproar that making toilets smaller might generate," Headley said, especially given that passengers increasingly weigh more than they use to. Nevertheless, "will it keep them from flying? I doubt it would."
The rate of complaints per 100,000 passengers also rose to 1.43 last year from 1.19 in 2011.
In recent years, some airlines have shifted to larger planes that can carry more people, but that hasn't been enough to make up for an overall reduction in flights.
The rate at which passengers with tickets were denied seats because planes were full rose to 0.97 denials per 10,000 passengers last year, compared with 0.78 in 2011.
It used to be in cases of overbookings that airlines usually could find a passenger who would volunteer to give up a seat in exchange for cash, a free ticket or some other compensation with the expectation of catching another flight later that day or the next morning. Not anymore.
"Since flights are so full, there are no seats on those next flights. So people say, 'No, not for $500, not for $1,000,' " said airline industry analyst Robert W. Mann Jr.
Regional carrier SkyWest had the highest involuntary denied-boardings rate last year, 2.32 per 10,000 passengers.
But not every airline overbooks flights in an effort to keep seats full. JetBlue and Virgin America were the industry leaders in avoiding denied boardings, with rates of 0.01 and 0.07, respectively.
United Airlines' consumer complaint rate was 4.24 complaints per 100,000 passengers. Southwest had the lowest rate, at 0.25. Southwest was among five airlines that lowered complaint rates last year compared to 2011. The others were American Eagle, Delta, JetBlue and US Airways.
Consumer complaints were significantly higher in the peak summer travel months of June, July and August when planes are especially crowded.
"As airplanes get fuller, complaints get higher because people just don't like to be sardines," Mann said.
The complaints are regarded as indicators of a larger problem because many passengers may not realize they can file complaints with the Transportation Department, which regulates airlines.
At the same time that complaints were increasing, airlines were doing a better job of getting passengers to their destinations on time.
The industry average for on-time arrival rates was 81.8 percent of flights, compared with 80 percent in 2011. Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance record, 93.4 percent in 2012. ExpressJet and American Airlines had the worst records with only 76.9 percent of their planes arriving on time last year.
The industry's on-time performance has improved in recent years, partly due to airlines' decision to cut back on the number of flights.
"We've shown over the 20 years of doing this that whenever the system isn't taxed as much ? fewer flights, fewer people, less bags ? it performs better. It's when it reaches a critical mass that it starts to fracture," Headley said.
The industry's shift to charging for fees for extra bags, or sometimes charging fees for any bags, has significantly reduced the rate of lost or mishandled bags. Passengers are checking fewer bags than before, and carrying more bags onto planes when permitted.
The industry's mishandled bag rate peaked in 2007 at 7.01 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. It was 3.07 in 2012, down from 3.35 bags the previous year.
The report's ratings are based on statistics kept by the department for airlines that carry at least 1 percent of the passengers who flew domestically last year. The research is sponsored by Purdue University in Indiana and by Wichita State.
___
Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/virgin-america-best-us-airline-performer-2012-133109520--finance.html
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KYBURZ, Calif. ? A kayaker was being credited with helping to save a family of five after their SUV had veered off a road and ended up in a Northern California river.
The family was driving along Highway 50 near the Sierra Nevada community of Kyburz Thursday afternoon when their SUV veered off the road, hit a concrete mile marker, a large tree, a boulder and then went into the American River, Sacramento television station KCRA-TV ( ) reported. http://nbcnews.to/12ykU9j
A kayaker on the river was able to get three children ? a 4-year-old girl and two 15-year-twin girls ? out of the SUV and get them to shore, officials said.
When the kayaker ? identified as Mark Divittorio of Placerville ? went back to the SUV he found the driver with his head partly underwater and the man's wife helping to hold his head up, the station said.
"It was fortuitous that they didn't actually land on me," Divittorio told KCRA. "I was kayaking right there moments before they plunged off the cliff."
A fire crew that happened to be in the area for another call was able to get to the scene within three minutes, Mike Pott, division chief of the El Dorado County Fire Protection District, told The Associated Press.
Firefighters were able to stabilize the driver and get him and his wife out of the vehicle, which was on its side and half-submerged in the river, Pott said.
The driver, Christian Lemler, 50, of Livermore, suffered moderate to major injuries, said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Mike Poore. With the cause of the crash still under investigation, it had not been determined how fast the SUV was going when it crashed into the river. It was raining at the time, but it was not known if the weather contributed to the crash.
The other family members suffered only bumps and bruises, officials said.
"All the circumstances came together," Pott said. "Several things came together to help save this family."
The two adults and the two teens were wearing seatbelts, while the child was strapped into a car seat, Pott said.
"If they didn't have their seatbelts on I'm sure they would have all been ejected," he said.
The area where the accident took place is in rural El Dorado County, about 75 miles northeast of Sacramento.
Earlier on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/american-river-rescue_n_3034940.html
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Ronan, a California sea lion with a knack for keeping a beat, challenges theories about the nature of rhythmic ability.?
One of our resident sea lions, Ronan, is the first non-human mammal shown able to find and keep the beat with musical stimuli. This challenges earlier evidence from humans and parrots suggesting that complex vocal mimicry is a necessary precondition for flexible rhythmic entrainment.If you're like most people, the last time you threw a dance party you invited only humans, cockatoos, parrots, and parakeets.?
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Which makes perfect sense, because the only animals capable of keeping a beat, as far as anyone knew, were mimicking birds and (some) humans.
But new research suggests that for your next interspecies soir?e, you might need to fill a kiddie pool and stock your fridge with herring, because it turns out that sea lions may also show a sense of rhythm.?
Researchers at the Pinniped Cognition & Sensory Systems Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, trained Ronan, a 4-year-old California sea lion, to bob her head in time with music. It is the first time a nonhuman mammal has been observed keeping a beat.
Before Ronan danced her way onto the scene, animal behaviorists were beginning to agree that keeping a beat ? "rhythmic entrainment" in science-speak ? was in some way a byproduct of neural adaptations that allow vocal mimicry. Inspired by popular YouTube videos of Snowball, a sulfur-crested cockatoo getting down to the Backstreet Boys' "Everybody" and Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," researchers conducted an extensive search of the video database to find that every example of beat keeping, as far as they could tell, was done either by mimicking birds or humans. (It's mostly humans, actually. And most aren't very good.) ?
But Ronan changes all that. "The idea was that beat keeping is a fortuitous side effect of adaptations for vocal mimicry, which requires matching incoming auditory signals with outgoing vocal behavior," said lead researcher Peter Cook, in a university press release.
"It's understandable why that theory was attractive. But the fact is our sea lion has gotten really good at keeping the beat. Our finding represents a cautionary note for an idea that was really starting to take hold in the field of comparative psychology."
Now Ronan has a viral video of her own. Watch as she grooves to Earth, Wind & Fire's 1979 hit, "Boogie Wonderland," and then, later in the video, the Backstreet Boys' 1997 song, "Everybody." The researchers also trained Ronan to bob her head to Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Down on the Corner."?
Ronan, notes Mr. Cook in the press release, actually stays on the beat better than birds who have been trained to do so. And he suspects that brain structures for keeping a beat might be widespread throughout the animal kingdom.?
"Human musical ability may in fact have foundations that are shared with animals," Cook said. "People have assumed that animals lack these abilities. In some cases, people just hadn't looked."
Exactly what those brain structures are, however, is still anybody's guess. The paper says that Ronan's behavior is consistent with "some sort of neural oscillation mechanism with a preferred endogenous rate being driven by an external rhythm."?
If that's the case, and if these mechanisms are present in humans as well, then Cook and his team may have helped figure out what, in the most literal sense, makes us tick. ?
The research appears in the current issue of the American Psychological Association's Journal of Comparative Psychology. ?
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This image made from AP video shows Afghan National Army soldier rushing to the scene moments after a car bomb exploded in front the PRT, Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Qalat, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Six American troops and civilians and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks on Saturday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the U.S. military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said. (AP Photo via AP video)
This image made from AP video shows Afghan National Army soldier rushing to the scene moments after a car bomb exploded in front the PRT, Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Qalat, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Six American troops and civilians and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks on Saturday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the U.S. military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said. (AP Photo via AP video)
CHICAGO (AP) ? A young U.S. diplomat killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan was an up-and-comer in the State Department and loved working directly with residents of the country, those who knew her said Sunday.
Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old foreign service officer, died Saturday when the group she was traveling with was struck by an explosion in southern Zabul province. They were en route to traveling to donate textbooks to students.
The Chicago-area woman is the first American diplomat to die on the job since last year's attack on the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi, Libya.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday at a news conference in Turkey that Smedinghoff was "vivacious, smart" and "capable." Smedinghoff had assisted Kerry during a visit to Afghanistan two weeks ago.
Kerry also described Smedinghoff as "a selfless, idealistic woman who woke up yesterday morning and set out to bring textbooks to school children, to bring them knowledge."
Anne Smedinghoff's parents said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post that their daughter joined the foreign service straight out of a college.
Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff also said their daughter died doing what she loved.
"Working as a public diplomacy officer, she particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war," they said.
Smedinghoff previously served in Venezuela.
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KUANTAN: A total of 32 armed forces installations opened their doors for public viewing for the first time on Saturday as part of the Blue Ocean strategy.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the pioneer initiative was to foster a closer rapport between the security forces comprising army, navy and air forces with the people.
"Peace and security is the most important element for a country's success.
"Malaysia will not be where she is today without the willingness of a group of citizens to put their lives on the line.
"At the same time, other citizens must give their full support and appreciate their sacrifices," he said in a speech at the Kuantan air force base here when launching the Military Community Volunteering Day.
Also present were Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and armed forces chief Jen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin.
Earlier, Najib arrived at the air base onboard a new army helicopter, the Eurocopter EC725.
There were also demonstrations of a hostage rescue and army warfare as well as a rendition of the Korean hit song Gangnam Style by the air force band.
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VICE via Reuters file
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Feb. 28.
By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News
North Korean media calls Kim Jong Un "the greatest-ever commander." Dennis Rodman says he is "a normal guy."
Neither description seems fitting, but little is known about the third-generation leader now locked in a showdown with the U.S. and South Korea that some fear could lead to war.
Before Kim took over from his father, Kim Jong Il, he had barely been seen in public. And even though he's been in charge for more than a year, there's been only a trickle of information about his personality and habits.
The most recent details about the man threatening to send missiles to the U.S. come from Rodman, who made a trip to Pyongyang earlier this year. Here are some tidbits about Kim that have emerged outside the North Korean propaganda machine:
He shares a birthday with Elvis Presley ... maybe: Kim has been reported to be somewhere between 29 and 30 years old. But Kenji Fujimoto, a sushi chef who worked for his family until 2001 and later wrote a tell-all, claims he was born Jan. 8, 1983 ? the same date as The King.
KCNA via Reuters file
Kim Jong Un and wife Ri Sol-Ju last July.
He has a first lady:?North Korean media revealed Kim was married last July when it announced his fashionable female companion at the opening of an amusement park was his wife,?Ri Sol-ju. No one is certain when they tied the knot or whether they have children. South Korean media say she's a former cheerleader and singer.?
He was educated in the West:?Kim attended a state school in Switzerland from 1998 to 2000, posing as a diplomat's son named Pak Un, according to the Washington Post. "I never saw his father or mother," Principal Peter Burri told the paper. Another official described him as "well-integrated, diligent, ambitious." Kim reportedly later attended the Kim Il Sung Military University in Pyongyang, named after his grandfather.
He's crazy about basketball:?He idolized Michael Jordan and was no slouch on the court himself. One high-school buddy described him as "explosive" and a "playmaker." Another said he was fiercely competitive: "He hated to lose."
KCNA via EPA
Kim Jong Un and his iMac.
He's brand-conscious:?Teenage buddies recalled he had a collection of expensive Nike sneakers. A recent photo of him plotting military action against the U.S. showed an Apple iMac computer on his desk. His wife supposedly carries a Dior clutch, though some think it's a knock-off.
His hairstyle is unsanctioned: North Korea reportedly has 28 "recommended" hairstyles for its people. Kim's 'do ? shaved on the sides, floppy on top ? is not among them, according to a Hong Kong TV network that obtained photos of the approved looks.
He's a song-and-dance man: High-school classmates told London's Daily Telegraph his favorite song was "Brother Louie" by the German pop duo Modern Talking. Rodman told London's Sun that Kim digs 1980s disco. "There was an all-girl band playing and we were definitely getting down," Rodman said of their visit.
KCNA via Reuters
Kim Jong Un looks at a photo of his grandfather Kim Il Sung last month.
He's a heavyweight:?South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported that after the 2004 death of his mother from cancer, Kim went on a drinking and eating binge, ballooning to almost 200 pounds. He remains plump in a country ravaged by famine and suffers from diabetes and hypertension.
He's a chip off the old block: Kim looks so much like his grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung, that North Korea's official news agency had to deny rumors he had gone under the knife. Analysts say he hoped to model himself on his grandfather, who was more liked by his people than Kim's much-feared father.
The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.
Related:
North Korea moves missile to east coast as nuclear crisis escalates
North Korea's overseas apologists dismiss 'propaganda' about torture, repression
NBC News' Jim Maceda responds to your questions on North Korea tensions
Full coverage from NBC News on North Korea
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